“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them” (Acts 28:27).
Our heart can be as tender as a rose bud or as hard as a cannonball. You are the one who determines how hard or soft your heart will be. When the Holy Spirit begins to “speak” to your conscience, how you respond determines the hardness of your heart.
Do you attempt to justify your actions against a person who has wronged you or wronged someone you love? “Well, you don’t know what she did.” Do you push the voice of God aside? “Well, she deserved it. She shouldn’t have been nosing around in other people’s business.”
When you constantly ignore that whisper of conviction, you will come to a point where you can hear it no more. Your heart will become calloused in that area, and your future may be filled with bitterness and hatred.
Too many people harden their heart to the voice of God. Gentle guidance from the Spirit of God is stuffed away or pushed aside for the sake of our will. We have our agendas, our plans, our ambitions at stake. We dare not listen to God because he might tell us to do something we don’t want to do. We question God’s love for us.
Whether your heart is soft or surrounded by a brick wall, God will break through. The more tender your heart, the more easily God can get through to you. If your heart is hard, God may have to use some extreme measures to penetrate, but he will get through. Let him break down those barriers that have kept him out of your heart.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
Prayer: Father, speak to me through your Holy Spirit. Reveal any hardness of my heart and soften any calluses that may have formed. Finally, give me the strength to act upon my conscience, upon your leading.
